Chirs Granger / The Times-PicayuneSkip Bertman, who guided LSU to five national titles in baseball, says Tigers Coach Paul Mainieri has developed a level of confidence, an intensity, a mental poise in his players.

Patience is a virtue, right?

Whether or not you agree, it's a virtue that plays a significant role in the makeup of successful coaches, be it football, basketball, baseball.

"I don't think I'm prejudiced, but when it comes to patience, a coach needs it more in baseball than football and basketball," said ex-baseball coach Skip Bertman. "Why? Because baseball is more slow-motion, more little things are involved. Baseball's more one-on-one, balls and strikes, pitcher-batter, sometimes from the first pitch to the bottom of the ninth, creating all kinds of decisions for the man in charge to handle. Decisions, decisions."

Bertman paints the picture of a sport that makes baseball the poster-boy when it comes to the second guess. How many times have you heard it? If a coach makes a pitching change, and the reliever is shelled, the coach is an idiot. If the reliever retires the side with the bases loaded, the coach is a genius.

"The thing to remember is, a baseball coach is making many decisions that go unnoticed by the fans, moving infielders and outfielders around, decisions that can affect the outcome of a game," Bertman said.

At the moment, Skip is in Omaha, Neb., a happy former LSU athletic director, having watched the man he brought in to handle the LSU baseball program win his first two games in the College World Series, leaving the Tigers one victory short of playing in the championship round.

What Bertman has seen from his seat behind home plate at Rosenblatt Stadium is a Tigers team that has gone 2-0, as he put it, "by getting the job done with pitching, hitting and defense, which pretty much touches all the bases when it comes to winning. I think Paul Mainieri has developed a level of confidence, an intensity, a mental poise in his players that will make the Tigers a tough out.

"Listen, anything's possible in baseball, which is what makes it such a great game. But right now I sure like our chances."

In an opening 9-5 victory over Virginia, a game in which the Cavaliers put LSU's feet to the fire, Bertman liked the way Mainieri didn't hesitate to bring in his No. 1 starter, Louis Coleman, in relief to get the Tigers through the eighth inning of what was a one-run game.

And, in a 9-1 win over Arkansas, Bertman pointed to the first inning when patience paid off big time for LSU.

"It was LSU's patience at the plate in a game just getting under way that wound up paying huge dividends," Bertman said. "The Arkansas starter threw something like 39 first-inning pitches. He was gone in the next inning, worn out. It changed the tenor of the game."

Mainieri called Ryan Schimpf's at-bat in that first inning "maybe the best at-bat of the year."

Schimpf reached first on a walk, but only after standing in the batters' box for 13 pitches, fouling off seven two-strike pitches.

Three batters later, Mikie Mahtook hit a two-strike pitch for a three-run homer.

The Tigers finished the game with 13 hits, including three home runs. Perhaps the most telling stat was the Tigers scored eight of their nine runs with two out.

"To me," Bertman said, "it sort of suggests the patience shown by Coach Mainieri in the way he's handled things during the season is paying dividends, just in the way his players have been showing patience at the plate. All the little things are paying off."

So what is Bertman's feeling on Anthony Ranaudo coming back to face Arkansas after a poor performance against Virginia?

"I'll be surprised if Anthony doesn't step up and pitch a big game," Bertman said. "He knows he had a bad game against Virginia. And he knows something else. He had one of his worst outings of the regular season against Arkansas, when he gave up five runs in six innings. He sure is a pitcher with something to settle. I like his chances. I like our chances."

Still, Bertman's been around long enough to realize one stat doesn't mean anything.

"It's the one about 17 of the 19 teams that started out 2-0 have gone on to win," Bertman said. "It means absolutely nothing if you don't finish the job."